Thursday, July 28, 2011

Everyday Creativity

Yesterday several of us from our sales team at Heritage headed over to the Moore Chamber of Commerce to attend a workshop titled Everyday Creativity by DeWitt Jones, presented by Jan Astani. We had a great time looking at things in a new perspective, and thinking outside the box!

Curtis even made a friend.

(This picture is more disturbing than I realized. Sorry, and somehow me saying “you had to be there” doesn’t help much either. Oh well, you had to be there.)

Dewitt Jones is one of Americas top professional photographers. Twenty years with National Geographic, photographing stories all over the globe, has earned him the reputation as a world-class photojournalist. As a motion picture director, two of Dewitt’s films were nominated for Academy Awards.

His definition of creative is “the ability to look at the ordinary and see the extraordinary.”

Jan did a wonderful job walking our group through the 9 Steps of Creativity…• Looking at the ordinary and seeing the extraordinary• Every act can be a creative one• Creativity is a matter of perspective• There’s always more than one right answer• Reframe problems into opportunities• Don’t be afraid to make mistakes• Break the pattern• Train your technique• You’ve got to really care

Since I don’t have the rights to use Dewitt’s material I better stop there with the descriptions and definitions…I’m sure he’d prefer you go to your own workshop and hear it for yourself. (That was my creative response, my real response here is I don’t wanna get my rear-end sued for using his stuff without permission!)

If you find a fabulous presenter (like Jan Astani) offering Everyday Creativity, I highly recommend you attend. It was very eye opening.

I will leave you with one thought that I gleaned from the presentation. The quote “put yourself in the place of most potential” really got me thinking. Are you putting yourself and your business in the place of most potential? Are you reaching out to your clients in a way to gain the most potential? Often we do things “just because” or “because that’s the way we’ve always done it” BUT in doing that “thing”, are we putting ourselves and our business in the place of most potential. I can’t stop thinking about it…and I encourage you to think about it too.

Now I’m off to be creative! Okay, first I’ll get some coffee, THEN I’ll be creative.

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The design process of Charles and Ray Eames never stopped – they constantly searched for ways to improve their existing designs. In that spirit, Neenah Paper, in collaboration with the Eames Office, is proud to present the newly enhanced Eames Paper Collection. We’ve added a minimalist Vellum finish and a modern, brilliant, recycled white. Like the work of Charles and Ray Eames, both are equally appropriate for the extraordinary and the everyday.